Presenting animal sounds from rainforests, deserts, oceans, and the sky, this audio CD of material from National Public Radio explores the meanings behind the morning roar of the Guatemalan howler monkey, the seriously social laughing of the spotted hyena, and the sophisticated conversation from the Central African forest elephant. Among the 14 subjects here are "Alpha Bison: the Quieter Bellow Wins the Females"; "Otterly Adorable, But Born to Be Wild"; and "What Wildlife Lurks in Central Park by Night?"

"The NPR style comes through in short interviews with animal scientists about sounds of the wild that interest them.... A cricket lady electronically slows the speed of her little insects to show what the chirping consists of and explains how temperature affects it. An elephant naturalist plays the voices of elephants in the night forest talking to each other. With the sounds in the background, she demonstrates how the pachyderms' emotions modulate their communications. Adding chill to such a fuzzy lesson, she mentions that an occasional gunshot pops up on the recordings, reminding us that all wildlife face danger from Homo sapiens."—AudioFile